I. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a liquid transport device.
II. Description of Prior Art
Maintaining the cleanliness of commercial, industrial, institutional, and public buildings is an ongoing effort, and at times, an effort which seems more like a losing battle. This is particularly true for areas such as restrooms, locker rooms, cafeterias, and food service kitchens, where the volume of traffic in the particular area may make it difficult to maintain the cleanliness of the facility.
Building maintenance staff typically clean such areas on a routine basis using traditional mop-and-bucket assemblies, in which the bucket includes a detachable mop wringer, and is positioned on caster wheels, thereby enabling a building maintenance person to move the mop bucket from place to place, typically by pushing on the mop handle. Depending on the cleanliness of the mop, a worker may be able to make a good start in cleaning a floor using the mop bucket system. However, as soon as the worker makes a first pass and wrings the mop out, the entire mop bucket system is contaminated. From that point on, each time the worker plunges the mop into the bucket and rings the mop out, both the mop and xe2x80x9ccleaning waterxe2x80x9d become more and more dirty.
One way to attempt to solve this problem is to make frequent water and mop changes. However, this adds time to an already laborious process, and therefore, there is little worker incentive to make frequent water and mop changes. Moreover, because a slop sink, source of clean water, or custodial supply room may be far away, a worker is even less inclined to make water and mop changes.
The end result is that a dirty floor gets cleaned by pushing dirty water around with a dirty mop. At best, the surface may have the appearance of being cleaned if concentrated spots of highly visible soil have been removed or spread around. In reality, however, given the limitations of these tools, the worker still is simply pushing dirt around the floor, as evidenced by the xe2x80x9cfive-o""clock shadowxe2x80x9d of dirt seen frequently along the surface of walls adjacent the floor, as well as the xe2x80x9cfinger painting-like streaksxe2x80x9d left by the mop when the water on the floor dries.
The cleanliness problem may be especially severe in the restrooms of these various buildings, and in fact, the number-one building maintenance complaint is dirty restrooms. Given the frequency with which these facilities are used, as well as the tools available for cleaning restrooms, the dirty restroom complaint is not particularly surprising. Building maintenance workers typically use the mop-and-bucket system described above to clean restroom floors. And, as noted above, while this system may pick up some dirt, it tends more typically to spread dirty water around on the floor. In addition, restrooms have many surfaces, such as urinals, toilets, dividers, walls, mirrors, sinks, and countertops, which simply cannot be cleaned using the mop-and-bucket approach. The tools for cleaning these surfaces, such as brushes, sponges, spray-bottle chemical disinfectants, cloth wipes, and the like, are extremely hands-on, and therefore, are less desirable to use. And, when chemical disinfectants solutions are used, generally a worker will spray the solution onto a surface, and wipe the solution off, either right away or within a few minutes. However, a chemical disinfectant typically must remain in contact with a surface for about ten minutes in order to kill bacteria. Accordingly, little, if any, chemical disinfecting actually is being done. Because these cleaning tools and methods are relatively unpalatable, building maintenance workers tend to clean these kinds of surfaces less frequently, and when they are cleaned, they are not cleaned thoroughly. The sanitation maintenance industry offers other pieces of cleaning equipment, such as pressure washers, wet vacs, pump-up sprayers, and janitor""s carts. However, because of the limitations of several of these tools, as well as their single-task focus, sanitary maintenance professionals tend to use them in actual cleaning either infrequently, or not at all.
Most pressure washers operate at a pressure of 1000 PSI and above, a pressure which is far too high for many cleaning applications. For example, if such a pressure washer were use to mechanically clean a painted wall, it would blast the paint off of the wall surface. On the other end of the pressure spectrum are pressure washers having a pressure of about 100 PSI or less. And because of the type of pump used in these low pressure sprayers, the liquid exiting the sprayer actually has a far, far lower pressure, for example, about 40 PSI. Although such a low-pressure washer may be beneficial in applying a cleaning solution, it lacks the mechanical power required to actually clean a particular surface once the solution has been applied. Because pressure washers generally include a single clean-liquid water tank or container, both cleaning chemicals and water are loaded into this same container, which may be damaging to the device, particularly if a harsh cleaning chemical passes through a mechanical component, such as a pump. Because most pressure washers do not have there own water source, an operator must use a garden-type hose, and must have ongoing access to a corresponding faucet throughout the pressure washing process. Moreover, these pressure washers generally lack a convenient on-board storage system for storing the garden hose and power cord during transport.
Conventional wet-vacs provide a user with the ability to vacuum soiled cleaning solution from a floor. However, movement of these devices from place to place can be difficult because the vac hose, wand, and various tools typically must be carried independently of the wet-vac device. Furthermore, the drain outlet on such devices is designed for draining into a custodial slop sink, thereby requiring the user to take the wet-vac to a particular location in order to drain the device.
Pump-up sprayers also are available, which-enable a sanitation maintenance worker to sprinkle a cleaning solution under low-pressure onto a particular surface. In addition, the Industry provides various mobile janitorial carts, which may include storage shelves for various supplies, as well as a frame for a trash bag.
As is apparent from the discussion of the various cleaning tools presented above, sanitary maintenance professionals have a variety of tools from which to choose. However, these tools are either inadequate to do a proper cleaning job, or are so task-specific that they become user-unfriendly, given the many aspects involved in proper sanitation maintenance. Accordingly, given the relative ineffectiveness and/or inefficiency of the various tools available, particular facilities are not cleaned as well or as frequently as they should be, and morale and job satisfaction among many building maintenance professionals are relatively low.
The present invention provides an integrated, multi-functional, cleaning center, suitable for use in any of a number of different applications in the field of sanitary maintenance. To this end, and in accordance with the principles of the invention, one aspect of the invention is a multi-functional cleaning machine. The multi-functional cleaning machine includes a water tank, a liquid delivery line flowing from the water tank and capable of delivering liquid to a surface to be cleaned, and a cleaning-liquid draw line flowing into the liquid delivery line and capable of delivering a cleaning liquid from an independent source into the draw line. The cleaning machine further includes a vac tank capable of receiving dirty cleaning solution, and a vacuum connected to the vac tank.
The cleaning-liquid draw line enables a user to tailor the cleaning machine to a specific application within seconds. In particular, the user may select a first cleaning liquid to be used in cleaning a surface by connecting the draw line to that liquid. If a second (or third, or fourth, etc.) cleaning liquid is desired, the user simply disconnects the draw line and re-connects it to the second, or subsequent, cleaning liquid.
A particular version of the multi-functional cleaning machine further includes a spray gun connected to the liquid delivery line. In one form, the spray gun has a low-pressure setting and a high-pressure setting. When a user operates the gun in the low-pressure setting, cleaning liquid is drawn into the delivery line, where it combines with water from the water tank to form a cleaning solution. This cleaning solution then exits the spray gun under a relatively low pressure which does not aerosolize the cleaning solution. And because the solution does not get aerosolized, the risk of a worker breathing cleaning solution is dramatically lowered. When the user operates the gun in the high-pressure setting, cleaning liquid is no longer drawn into the delivery line, and water exits the spray gun at a relatively high pressure. The power of this more-pressurized water is particularly beneficial in mechanically cleaning a surface, and in rinsing loosened dirt and cleaning solution from a surface, thereby enabling a user to clean a surface thoroughly and prevent surface-buildup of cleaning liquid.
The invention also includes a method of cleaning, using the multi-functional cleaning machine. In contrast to traditional cleaning methods, the method of the invention allows disinfecting solutions to remain on soiled surfaces long enough for thorough disinfecting actually to occur.
Another aspect of the invention is a grout cleaning tool for use with a high-pressure liquid supply and a vacuum supply, for example, the liquid delivery line and vacuum of the multi-functional cleaning machine. The grout cleaning tool is particularly useful for cleaning floors which include grout lines, such as quarry tile and ceramic tile floors typically found in commercial kitchens and restrooms. The tool includes a housing having a front, a back, a top surface, a left side, and a right side, with the top surface including a liquid delivery opening and a soil uptake opening. In addition, the tool has a flexible wall with a front portion depending from the housing front and a back portion depending from the housing back, thereby forming a blast chamber between the front and back portions. This design enables a highly pressurized liquid to be delivered directly to a grout line, thereby removing soil, such as caked-on dirt and grease, and providing a cleaner and safer environment.
Yet another aspect of the invention is directed to a plunger gun for use with a high-pressure liquid supply, for example, the liquid delivery line of the multi-functional cleaning machine. The plunger gun includes a high-pressure spray gun having an elongated barrel, and a plunger bulb connected to the barrel. The plunger bulb may be releasably sealed about a conduit opening, for example, the opening of a toilet bowl or a drain pipe, thereby enabling a liquid under high-pressure to be controllably delivered into the conduit. While the plunger gun has many uses, it is particularly beneficial for unstopping passageways, such as clogged toilets and drains.
Another aspect of the invention is a liquid transport device. The liquid transport device may be used in any of a number of different sanitary maintenance situations, and is particularly useful in transporting any type of liquid from a faucet or spigot to another container. The device, itself, includes a liquid conduit having a first end with a liquid-receiving opening, and a second end with a liquid-dispensing opening, with the liquid conduit further including a conduit-reinforcing member. The transport device also has a faucet fastener connected to the liquid conduit. The liquid transport device is especially beneficial in filling the water tank of the multi-functional cleaning machine, in that it enables a user to fill the water tank from any conventional faucet without having to move the multi-functional cleaning machine to a special janitorial closet or other specific location.
The various aspects of the invention discussed briefly above combine to provide an effective and efficient cleaning tool, useful in cleaning numerous areas in and around commercial, industrial, institutional, and public buildings. Moreover, because the various aspects of the invention allow a sanitation maintenance worker to clean a particular room or facility more effectively, and to do so without having to touch soiled surfaces directly with the hands, the invention actually provides an incentive for these workers to do a thorough cleaning job, and may even assist in boosting worker morale. These and other benefits and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the accompanying drawings and description of the drawings.